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UTMB awarded $4.4 million to develop universal flu vaccine

UT Medical Branch Galveston researchers and Seattle-based biotechnology company Etubics Corporation are working together to construct, produce and test a vaccine containing various antigens of the A and B strains of influenza. If successful, one shot could inoculate an individual for life.

The vaccine would be a public health breakthrough not only in preventing influenza in the United States but most importantly in the developing world, where the virus can have much more devastating effects due to the challenge of vaccinating these populations every year.

Vaccine development is one of the most ambitious of scientific undertakings, often taking several years and at least a half billion dollars for a vaccine to go from the lab to clinical trials to common use. There are only about 50 vaccines approved worldwide today.

This research is made possible thanks to a $4.4 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.